Packing for Mars : the curious science of life in the void / Mary Roach.

Incluye bibliografía (p. [325]-334).

He´s smart but his birds are sloppy. Japan picks an astronaut -- Life in a box. The perilous psychology of isolation and confinement -- Star crazy. Can space blow your mind? -- You go first. The alarming prospect of life without gravity -- Unstowed. Escaping gravity on board NASA´s C-9 -- Throwing up and down. The astronaut´s secret misery -- The cadaver in the space capsule. NASA visits the crash test lab -- One furry step for mankind. The strange careers of Ham and Enos -- Next gas : 200,000 miles. Planning a moon expedition is tough, but not as tough as planning a simulated one -- Houston, we have a fungus. Space hygiene and the men who stopped bathing for science -- The horizontal stuff. What if you never got out of bed? -- The three-dolphin club. Mating without gravity -- Withering heights. Bailing out from space -- Separation anxiety. The continuing saga of zero-gravity elimination -- Discomfort food. When veterinarians make dinner, and other tales of woe from aerospace test kitchens -- Eating your pants. Is Mars worth it?

The author of Stiff and Bonk explores the irresistibly strange universe of space travel and life without gravity. Space is a world devoid of the things we need to live and thrive: air, gravity, hot showers, fresh produce, privacy, beer. Space exploration is in some ways an exploration of what it means to be human. How much can a person give up? How much weirdness can they take? What happens to you when you can´t walk for a year? have sex? smell flowers? What happens if you vomit in your helmet during a space walk? Is it possible for the human body to survive a bailout at 17,000 miles per hour? To answer these questions, space agencies set up all manner of quizzical and startlingly bizarre space simulations. As the author discovers, it´s possible to preview space without ever leaving Earth. From the space shuttle training toilet to a crash test of NASA´s new space capsule (cadaver filling in for astronaut), she takes us on a surreally entertaining trip into the science of life in space and space on Earth.